New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson, preparing to drive to Florida for spring training earlier this month, joked with fans through Twitter messages about the sorry state of his baseball team’s finances.

The Tampa Bay Rays’ record 12 picks in the first two rounds of the Major League Baseball draft may cost around $10 million in signing bonuses, almost a quarter of the payroll of the franchise’s big-league team.

The top elected official in Ramapo, New York, Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence, wanted a minor-league baseball team and a new stadium to house it. The park would cost about $20 million and taxpayers wouldn’t have to cover it, he and paid consultants predicted three years ago.

The Kansas City Royals acquired right-handed pitchers James Shields and Wade Davis from the Tampa Bay Rays for four prospects, including outfielder Wil Myers, who was voted the minor league player of the year by Baseball America and USA Today.